BookMyRentals.com Blog

In my personal opinion, food is often what makes the holiday.  You may be in a beautiful location with a fantastic holiday apartment and great temperature, but if the food is below standard and there is nothing for your taste buds to enjoy, that is the part you will remember for most of your holiday.  For me, there are three places in the world to go to for foodie holidays, but this is mainly because, for me, there is nothing like Mediterranean cuisine.

Foodie Holidays in France

France is the place to go for foodie holidays if you like to nibble. The French usually eat around eight times per day, which is one of the reasons why you will find portions are small. Of course, the French enjoy some odd, although delicious, food, such as snails and frog’s legs, but you can also enjoy some amazing foods, like the world famous Coq au Vin or Boullabaise. Of course, France is also the place to go for foodie holidays if you like bread and cheese, as there is a tremendous variety of these on offer.

Of course, a foodie holiday should also include drinks, and France has a host of wines for you to sample, as well a champagne and cognac, of course.

Foodie Holidays in Italy

If you have read the book or seen the movie Eat, Pray, Love, you will know that Italy is the place to go to eat. Pastas, pizzas, cakes, deserts, you name it, the Italians make it. A holiday in Italy is most certainly not a good idea for those who want to watch their weight. The only solution to combat the weight gain you will experience if you go on foodie holidays to Italy, is buying a larger sized pair of trousers!

As far as drinks go, a foodie holiday to Italy would not be complete without sampling some of the beautiful coffees and espressos, although be careful and remember that the caffeine in Italian coffees is strong enough to keep you awake at night!

Foodie Holidays in Spain

Spain is another great destination for foodie holidays. The tapas and the paella are a true delight to the taste buds, particularly when enjoyed with some of the fine Spanish wines, or Sangria of course. Spain offers a variety of seafood dishes that are truly amazing and there really is something for every taste to enjoy.

Going on foodie holidays is one way to make sure that your holiday is a success. You may have a crummy hotel, but if the food is good, your holiday will be a great success. If you want to avoid staying in a below par hotel, it might be a great idea to hire a holiday home in the country where you want to go for your foodie holiday. Particularly when going with a large group of people, having a holiday home can also be incredibly cost effective, of course. There are wonderful holiday homes in France, Spain and Italy, or any other destination you may want to choose for your next foodie holiday.

Between ridiculous airline fees, lousy exchange rates, and an all-round terrible world economy, traveling has become an incredibly expensive prospect for most people, especially those who haven’t had much travel experience. While the era of Europe for $5 a day is certainly over, there are many, many ways to make sure you’re saving money when you travel, or at the very least, not wasting it unnecessarily. When you’re in your vacation rental this year, consider these very simple money-saving tips.

1. Always use the bank (and only the bank) to get money.Independent exchange facilities, especially ones at major tourist attractions and airports, not only offer terrible exchange rates but sometimes charge a significant fee to change your money to the local currency. Banks not only consistently offer the best exchange rates but, with ATMs on every corner, offer the easiest way to access your cash on a 24/7 basis (unlike private money exchange stores). They also almost always offer English touch screens, so there’s no need to worry about dealing with a foreign language computer system.

2.Do not touch your cell phone. Even with a reasonable international plan, using a cell phone overseas can cost a fortune and it can be shockingly easy to run up an enormous bill with just minimal usage. An easy way to make sure you’re keeping a cap on your phone budget is to use a good, old-fashioned phone card which you can almost always find at local newsstands or drug stores. You can purchase them in amounts of just $5 and up and they are incredibly easy to use. The only extra effort you’ll have to make is scratching off a code on the back; other than that, it’s no more difficult than just making a regular phone call.

3. Eat lunch, not dinner.Depending on where you are in the world, the difference in price between a lunch menu and a dinner menu can be enormous. If you make lunch the big meal of the day, you can not only save a lot of money, but you can also find yourself eating in places that might have been cost prohibitive otherwise. Also, if you happen to be in a city that’s known for its theater, like New York or London, try scouting out pre-theater menus. You might need to eat a little earlier, but you’ll be saving quite a bit.
4. Schedule museum trips carefully. If you’re like most travelers, you’re probably going to hit a lot of museums on your vacation and that can get really expensive really quickly. That said if you’re strategic about when and/or how you go, you could save a lot in admission fees. For example, an adult ticket to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City is $25, but on Friday nights, admission is completely free. Many cities, like Paris, offer museum passes that not only offer big discounts, but line skipping as well, so be sure to investigate offers like this in your vacation rental city.

Your vacation rental has a 360° view of the city, your sheets are 1,000-count Egyptian cotton, and you even have a television in the bathtub, so why did your renters leave such bad reviews about your property? Maybe you did one of these five things that drive renters crazy and drive them to other vacation rentals.

1. Using areas of the house as storage. It’s great that your vacation rental property has five bedrooms, a den, two game rooms and nineteen separate closets, but if a bunch of them are being used to house Christmas ornaments, old tools, or even your family’s off-season clothes, they’re not much good to your renters. Renters look at a property the same way they look at a hotel room (can you imagine walking into a hotel room and finding someone’s clothes in the closet or old ski equipment under the bed?) so a good rule of thumb is not to use your rental property in any way a hotel wouldn’t use theirs.
2. Asking your renters for help with anything. Imagine if the concierge at your hotel asked you to stay in your room from 12-3 to wait for the cable guy or help with the hanging of a heavy chandelier. You’d probably be inclined to say no or even change hotels. Asking your guests to take care of anything, no matter how small, is a real turn off, so try to avoid it at all costs. It may be a working home to you, but it’s a vacation spot for them and it’s important to always remember that.
3. Showing other renters around. Even though they know it’s not true, renters like to believe, or at least, feel, like they’re the only renters you’ve ever had, so never show a potential renter a property while you have another guest in residence. Aside from reminding your guests that many other people stay there, it can also make them feel as if they have to spend time cleaning up, which is not how most people want to spend their vacation time.
4. Having strange and/or strong smells in the house. So, you love to come home to the scent of a nice pomegranate/sandalwood/lemon candle filling the air or a bed doused with your favorite perfume, but there’s a very good chance your guests may not. Even the smell of cleaning agents can bother some people (and let’s not even get started on smoke and animal scents) so try to make the place smell as neutral as possible and you’ll find you’ll get few complaints.

5. Having objectionable and/or explicit reading material and/or other items on display. It’s a true accomplishment to have a priceless collection of 18-century Japanese nudes any museum would envy, but if you’re hosting a family with a bunch of young kids, be sure to keep it out of the vacation rental. The same goes for books with adult themes, or frankly, even political or religious ones. Keep your “objects” and your library tame and family or (travel) oriented else you may not see your renters again.

You want to make sure your marketing is a success when you spend money to advertise on websites like BookMyRentals.Com . There are several things you can do as a property owner to ensure your marketing is highly effective and your property is rented throughout the year.

Fast response: Make sure you reply immediately, or as fast as possible to any inquiries you receive. Vacationers usually send out several emails to many properties when they begin their search for their ideal vacation rental. You want to engage them first and put yourself a head of the rest.

Price: The price point of your vacation home is a vital factor as they have to be realistic for you to be successful. Do your market research. How much do other properties in the area charge? Set the rate of your property at a credible price point and review this regularly. You may have to be flexible with your price so it is a good idea to have a lowest possible price in mind.

List your phone number: Make sure you put your phone number on your listing so that your potential visitors can contact you immediately if they wish. Getting your renter on the phone immediately puts you at an advantage and you can not only sell your property but gain your customer’s trust too.

Availability calendar: Bookmyrentals.com has an availability calendar that allows your guests to check the dates that your property is available. This is a key tool that makes life easier for you and your renters. Make sure you keep it up to date.

Update all information: Make sure all of your details are always up to date. If you email address changes, make sure you update it, especially the email that delivers all your messages from Bookmyrentals.com. You don’t want to miss out on a sale because you miss all your emails. Make sure your listing is fully up to date and all the details are correct.

Guest book: Your guest book is your key to showing new guests and old how popular your property is and all the features your customers love about the home you rent. You can use these testimonials on your social media and in other forms of advertising; it is invaluable content.

Off-season visits: Don’t just count on luck when it comes to filling your vacation rental during the off-season. Promote your home just as much for the off as the on season. Renters sometimes need to just get away and you can monopolize on this. You may have to drop your price, or offer additional incentives, but it will be worth your while in the long run.